Posibilidades de mejora en los planes de prevención frente al exceso de temperaturas

Abstract

RESUMENEn el verano de 2003 las temperaturas alcanzadas fueron respon sables de un gran número de muertes en el continente europeo. Un año después muchos países habían implantado algún tipo de plan de prevención frente al exceso de temperaturas. Planes que ya habían mostrado su capacidad de prevenir una buena parte de la mortalidad evitable en otras latitudes.Desde entonces, son numerosos los estudios publicados ofre ciendo nuevos datos sobre los efectos en salud pública de una ola de calor, que pueden contribuir a aumentar la eficiencia de estos planes de prevención. Conocer las situaciones meteorológicas de mayor riesgo, definir ola de calor o tener en cuenta el tiempo que el plan debe estar activo a partir del estudio de la relación entre la tempera tura y sus efectos en salud, identificar las características meteoroló gicas que modulan la relación entre la temperatura y la mortalidad, localizar el perfil de las personas de mayor riesgo o diseñar protoco los de actuación con la mayor precisión posible y basado en el cono cimiento científico son elementos extraídos de numerosos trabajos realizados en los últimos años que deben ser tenidos en cuenta. Possibilities of ImprovementIn the summer of 2003 the temperatures reached were responsi ble for a large number of deaths in Europe. A year after this fact, many countries had implemented some sort of plan of prevention against excessive temperatures. Plans that had already shown its abi lity to prevent a large proportion of avoidable mortality in other lati tudes.Since then, a lot of papers have been published providing new data on health effects of a heat wave, which can help increase the efficiency of these prevention plans. Knowing the weather condi tions at risk, defining "heat wave" or to take into account the time that the plan should be active from the study of the relationship bet ween temperature and their effects on health, to identify weather pat terns that modulate the relationship between temperature and morta lity, locate the profile of people at risk or to develop protocols for action as accurately as possible and based on scientific knowledge are elements drawn from studies carried on in recent years that should be taken into account.

Where to Go or Where Not to Go—A Method for Advising Communities during Extreme Temperatures

“…Thus, these maps provide information on the places where people should or should not go during extreme weather events (e.g., a heat wave, cold wave, strong winds, marine storm surges, and/or intense precipitation). In fact, climate risks can only be dealt with by three approaches: risk management, mitigation, or adaptation [15,35,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. In the first and second cases, we need to implement actions that reduce all types of risks related to climate change in regard to the diversity of people and place combinations in each neighbourhood.…”